Safaricom said they “regret the impact” these additional taxes will have on the “remarkable gains” made in mobile and internet penetration.

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"Starting on Thursday (Oct. 18), Kenya’s biggest telecoms company Safaricom hiked prices following the approval of a series of new government taxes. Last month, president Uhuru Kenyatta signed a new finance bill aimed at increasing levies on key sectors as a way to raise funds and narrow budget-deficit targets that could endanger a deal with the International Monetary Fund."

Humanitarian & Cultural Causes in Africa
Social, Humanitarian & Cultural Causes in Africa. Investors Europe Sponsors Aurelie D'Unienville. http://www.aureliemarrierdunienville.com/ http://www.investorseurope.net/en/managing-director . Disclaimer : this page is not intended for any specific nationality or jurisdiction. It is also not intended to solicit clients from any specific jurisdiction including the Republic of Mauritius inter alia.
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The year 2018 was a bumpy ride for the global securities markets as investors faced fears about a global trade war, geopolitical uncertainties and corporate scandals, as well as increasing

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"The year 2018 was a bumpy ride for the global securities markets as investors faced fears about a global trade war, geopolitical uncertainties and corporate scandals, as well as increasing interest rates. The resulting sluggish performance of the securities markets is also reflected in the average returns of long-term mutual funds registered for sale in Europe (-5.68%) for the year 2018. That said, a view on the average results does hide that some funds were able to generate solid positive results, even as the respective classification average might be negative."

More than one in 10 people travelling through the region are taken, as smugglers prey on people for ransom, survey finds

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"More than 15% of refugees travelling north through the Horn of Africa were kidnapped during their journey last year, according to what is believed to be one of the most comprehensive surveys of migration journeys."

Natural gas prices rallied to multi-year highs in November, but the bullish fervor in gas markets has died down as a result of new warm weather forecasts

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"Natural gas spot prices jumped as high as $4.70/MMBtu in November, the highest price since the Polar Vortex of 2014. The run up in prices caught the market off guard, and even pushed an options trading firm to suddenly shutter its doors virtually overnight."

There is no doubt that in the leadership and decision-making terrain, Africa is making significant strides. Change is visible, with many examples to show that

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"As 2018 draws to a close, a change that has shaken the gender disparity debate in Africa has occurred in Ethiopia. In a historic move on 25 October, its parliament unanimously elected Ambassador Sahle-Work Zewde as the country’s first female head of state. In the same month, Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed appointed 10 female ministers, making Ethiopia the third country in Africa after Rwanda and"

Egypt announces a number of initiatives to boosting investment, economic integration and greater cooperation among African states

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"Speaking at the just-concluded African 2018 Forum held in the resort town of Sharm El Sheikh, the Egyptian leader outlined to gathered delegates, including African Heads of State and leading business leaders, how Egypt will help tackle some of the issues and constraints holding back investment and economic growth around the continent."

"But it was only when actress Alyssa Milano tweeted the hashtag more than a decade later that it become the phenomenon the world knows now. It was meant as a personal gesture that quickly grew into a global movement, by social media mapping anyway. The idea was that if each woman who had experienced sexual harassment just tweeted the hashtag, the world would begin to understand the magnitude of the problem."

The program is getting support from the Chinese government which has supplied materials including textbooks as well as some tutors

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"Uganda’s education ministry is planning to add Mandarin language lessons to its secondary school curriculum at 35 schools with future plans to roll it out to more educational institutions as resources become available."

"Johannesburg was the first time the festival was held in Africa, and months later AfroPunk went on to hold a smaller pop-up festival in Dakar during the Dak’art Biennale, adding the two cities to a global network of a black cultural expression. In 2018 though, it was undoubtedly the mythical country of Wakanda that became the most celebrated corner of Africa."

An accusation of illegally repatriating profits is the latest tussle MTN has faced in Nigeria where it has operated for nearly two decades.

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"Africa’s largest telecoms operator says it has paid $53 million to settle a dispute after Nigeria’s Central Bank accused it of illegally repatriating $8.1 billion in profits. MTN was also alleged to owe Nigeria up to $2 billion in taxes by the attorney general."

"The World Economic Forum recently published a set of briefs as part of its “Shaping the Future of Environment and Natural Resource Security System Initiative”. These documents have begun to address some key questions around the potential role of the fourth industrial revolution in supporting a sustainable development agenda."

With over a 2,000-mile shore, the Horn of Africa nation has mainland Africa's longest coastline.

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"Somalia granted fishing licenses to 31 Chinese vessels to exploit tuna and tuna-like species off its coast in a bid to tap the sector for economic growth. The vessels are associated with the China Overseas Fisheries Association, a distant-water trawling group created in 2012 to promote the East Asian giant’s competitive fishing edge abroad."

Like most economic migrants, much of the growing departure by software engineers is linked to quality of life and earning power.

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"It follows a decade of triumphs for the ecosystem which has recorded several startup and tech hub launches and attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investment. The promise of the ecosystem has also proven a significant enough pull for global tech titans like Mark Zuckerberg. But many of the software engineers who have been central to that steady growth are increasingly looking outward."

It remains unclear whether electrification can actually improve living standards in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa.

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"As researchers, we have previously documented the positive effects of electrification schemes. Still, we think that money earmarked for rural electrification in sub-Saharan Africa might be better spent elsewhere. Providing people with clean drinking water and sanitation infrastructure may do more to improve living standards than providing them with electricity. In addition, water and sanitation provisions are generally less expensive than rural electrification. They could improve many more lives at the same cost."

Users of alternative medicine were more likely to have lower educational and socio-economic statuses.

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"The researchers at the University of Sierra Leone, the University of Technology, Sydney, and College of Natural Health in Brisbane found both general populations and major health subsets use complementary medicine due to its lower costs and accessibility, belief in their “natural” status, word of mouth recommendations, or because of the treatment’s association with a patient’s cultural or spiritual beliefs. Aggressive marketing drives also continue to hype herbal medicine presenting them as better options to manage diseases."

The vast 14,000 square-meter museum in Dakar, Senegal's capital, has a capacity for 18,000 exhibits.

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"The vast 14,000 square-meter museum opened a fortnight ago in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, a fulfillment of Senghor’s hopes for a grand museum for global black art. Senghor, who was also a poet, cultural theorist and leading pan-Africanist thinker, is believed to have conceived the idea following the First Festival of Negro Arts in 1966. But the first steps towards creating the museum did not happen until 2003."

Cape Town’s drought teaches us is that climate change is not a thing of a distant future: it is happening already and impacts us today

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"Between 2015 and 2017 South Africa’s South Western Cape region experienced three of its lowest rainfall years on record. This led to the progressive depletion of water supply reservoirs and by the summer of 2017/18 there was a real danger that – without drastic reductions in water use – the region, and especially the city of Cape Town, would run out of water."

"In a briefing to the United Nations Security Council, Yury Fedotov, head of the UN’s office on drugs and crime says his office is “registering new alarming trends on drug trafficking in West and Central Africa with disruptive and destabilizing effects on governance, security, economic growth, and public health.”

"If you want to love, you start with your neighbor"—Sula (Zula) Karuhimbi exemplified that spirit during the genocide of 1994.

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"At the time, Karuhimbi, who declared she was born in 1912, which would have made her 82 (though older reports say she might have been 72, or even 69, and it’s nearly impossible to confirm for sure). According to reconstructions from the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium), the University of Texas, and the Kigali Genocide Memorial, she lived alone and would lodge workers to supplement her income as a healer and a sustenance farmer."

“Can you imagine a country where nobody knows how many people are here?”

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"On many maps, the Central African Republic is a blank space in the middle of a continent that is already statistically under-represented. The data taken for granted in other countries are unavailable or simply unknown here. A civil war, successive coups, and near-constant violent instability have made data collection seem like an indulgence."

Alabukun brand was founded by a Nigerian pharmacy apprentice and entrepreneur, Jacob Sogboyega Odulate in 1918

Igor Espanhol's insight:

"Nigerians who use the drug are convinced it cures almost every ailment from minor headaches, fevers and pains to battling chronic rheumatism and arthritis. Medically speaking, Alabukun powder is an analgesic but it’s used in local traditional herbal medicine concoctions as commonly as it is used in modern medicine in Nigeria."

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